Looking for tablature convention naming levers (for E9)

Mark McCornack · From: California, USA

Greetings...I'm getting ready to tab something out to put up on forum and have a general question. Since the physical lever placement varies so much from setup to setup, frequently I've seen lever shorthand in tab such as 10E representing E to Eb lever on tenth fret (strings 4 & 8 ) or 10F to represent a raise E to F lever there..
My question is what is the most common convention used for the common B to Bb drop (strings 5 & 10) and for the 9th string half step drop from D to C#? This would of course be documented in the legend of the tab as well, but just wondering if there was a generally accepted convention I might use.
Thanks... Mark

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Standards got screwed up along the way. Even the "D" and "E" changes are disputed.

My understanding: Originally, the levers were named in the order they were developed:
2nd string lower was dubbed "D"
E-string lower = "E"
E-string raise = "F"
6th string lower/1st string raise = "G"
B-string string lower = "X"

HOWEVER, Jeff Newman (for one) swapped the name of the "D" and "E" levers. Given his stature in the world of tab, it sent half the world off on a different path dashing any hope for a standard naming convention. When talking about changes on the Forum, people have to say things like 'the lever that lowers the E-strings' rather than 'the E-lever... or the D-lever, if you learned it that way.'

As for the rest of the levers, everybody agrees on what the "F" is. But "G" can have several variations (half-step vs. whole-step, or maybe raises 7 instead of lowering 6).

As a tab writer, you can use letter-names and set it all straight in the 'legend' at the bottom of the page. But given the confusion, I'm a fan of abandoning letters for the knee levers for tab and just using a plus sign (+) for a half-step raise, and two signs (++) for a whole-step raise. Everybody can agree on what that means and you wouldn't need a legend... meanwhile, using letter-names for levers add an extra layer that the player has to decode. Still, I think it's fine to use ABC for at least the pedals -- since they're so thoroughly standardized.

Mark McCornack · From: California, USA

Great input, Tucker. This notion was also shared with me by another Forumite, and I think the logic is hard to argue with. I think I may also go with a "hybrid" route as you suggest giving the Emmons standard pedals the A,B,C notation and then signing the lever changes --,-,+,++ (as required).
PSG tab is difficult enough to read, I just want to use the clearest method I can. Thanks for the useful input (you too, Ron)! Smile

Mark

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

With all due respect to the memory of JN, his labels are illogical.
I use D for the lever that produces a D on 2 and lowers the D on 9; E for what lowers the Es; F is undisputed I think; I use G next as whatever it actually does, it can't be confused with anything else.
I would suggest this to anyone who is undecided, with a line of explanation as Tucker suggests.
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Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Ian,
I'm with you.

Mark McCornack · From: California, USA

I agree. That didn't make much sense to me either. What I thought was somewhat of a convention was
A B C - for standard Emmons floor pedals
E - lowers rhe E strings to Eb
F - raises E's to F
D - lowers 9th string (D) to C# (and 2nd string D# to D, C#)
X - lowers the B strings to Bb (B is already assigned to a pedal, so I just picked X)
I believe that due to the crossed up conventions mentioned above, I will stick with incorporating the +, - notation that Tucker mentioned.
Thanks all for the valuable input Smile

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